This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Manto hits three

   July 14, 1997 -- You've never seen a bigger swing of a baseball bat than the ones Jeff Manto took in his final at bat on this date.

   Manto had hit three home runs already on the day, and you don't get that many chances at four. Manto created nothing but a breeze, but it was still a great day's work. Here's the way Mike Harrington portrayed it in The News:

   Manto Mania is sweeping through North AmeriCare Park.

    It reached a crescendo Monday night as Bisons third baseman Jeff Manto became the first player inthe 10-year history of the downtown ballpark to crack three home runs in one game.Manto provided Buffalo with more than enough offense to pick up its seventh straight victory, 6-1, over the Iowa Cubs.

    It was a wild night before a rollicking crowd of 19,255 -- the largest since Opening Day. Most were drawn by the postgame fireworks, rescheduled from July 3 after being canceled due to wind.

    They got their fireworks this time -- both after and during the game.

    Not just from Manto, either.

    Things really heated up in the fifth inning with a brief bench-clearing incident after Buffalo's Randy Curtis was beaned by Iowa starter Amaury Telemaco. No punches were thrown, but Telemaco and Iowa pitching coach Marty DeMerritt were ejected after the teams met behind home plate for a heavy exchange of words.

    Manto became just the second Bison to hit three homers in a game in the American Association era, joining Al Martin's 1992 slugfest at Louisville.

    In 40 games since joining the club in a June 5 trade with the Toronto organization, Manto has belted 18 home runs to move into a tie for second place in the Association with New Orleans' J.R. Phillips. Manto is hitting .331 with 43 RBIs.

    "I've never seen a person play as well as Jeff has in such a short period of time," Buffalo manager Brian Graham said. "He's hotter than any hitter I've even seen at this level."

--- Budd Bailey

Comments

[Tiredof PAYING]

I was just geting to my seats when Manto hit home run #1. I wasn't looking at the field at that moment, but the crack of the bat was booming and quickly drew my attention to blast heading to deep left.